Animals are slaughtered to provide meat for human consumption. The meat may be tender or tough depending on a variety of factors including the species, breed, age, and health of the animal slaughtered, the amount of exercise the animal received, whether the animal was fed at a feed lot prior to slaughter, and the type of feed the animal consumed. Humans tend to prefer tender meat because it is easier to eat and digest and tends to be more flavorful.
To improve the tenderness of meat meant for human consumption, various mechanized methods of meat tenderizing have been developed. These methods include pounding the meat with hammers, injecting tenderizing solutions into the meat, rolling the meat with a roller having protrusions, and penetrating the meat with knives, protrusions or needles.
These mechanized methods of meat tenderization share some commonalities. First, each method is typically a station along a processing line where pieces of meat move along a conveyor system as they are processed. Second, each method typically applies the same working surface to each piece of meat reaching the tenderizing station of the processing line. For example, a tenderizer will apply the same needle head (i.e., working surface) to each piece of meat moving along the process line. Finally, for each method, the working surface of the tenderizer penetrates the outside surface of the piece of meat.
Because a tenderizer applies the same working surface to each piece of meat, there is a danger of cross-contamination (spreading of bacteria or other contaminant) from one piece of meat to another. Also, because the working surface penetrates the outside surface of the piece of meat, contaminants from one piece of meat are driven inside of the following pieces of meat. Thus, for example, if a single piece of meat on the process line was contaminated with E. coli, the E. coli could potentially be spread to the interiors of the following pieces of meat. If a steak was one of those following pieces of meat and a consumer ate that steak in a rare condition (a way many consumers still eat their steaks), the E. coli inside the steak may not be killed and the consumer could become ill.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a method of meat tenderization that will not present the current hazard of cross-contamination. There is also a need in the art for a device that will tenderize meat without presenting the current hazard of cross-contamination.